ThaFormula.com - You know I remember when underground stations used to play gangsta shit along with B-boy shit because it was just dope hip-hop. But somehow in the last few years something changed and all of a sudden if you weren't bustin' no spaceship intergalactic lyrics, or talkin' about coffee shops or nerd shit, you weren't considered real hip-hop?

J-Zone - Now I'm not blaming these guys cause I like these groups, but I think it kind of started with the Souls of Mischief and Freestyle Fellowship shit. See, they were out to prove a point that everyone on the West Coast ain't on no gangsta shit which was cool. But then everybody after that got on some shit where it's wack to do the gangsta shit, and then after that the only people who felt L.A. was the mainstream.

ThaFormula.com - What happened Zone? How did this nerd rap make it this far?

J-Zone - It just lost its edge completely. Anything rugged is described as non hip-hop. Everybody is scared to be considered thug or scared to be considered rugged. Everybody is scared to be funny. People just want to talk about the world ending over these spaced invader ass pseudo-techno beats and it's fucking noise to me! All this shit is noise. All this fucking art fag shit is straight noise to me and it just sounds like crap. People are so busy elevating and uplifting that they forget how to entertain. Back in the day X-Clan and Public Enemy would do both, but nowadays people are so busy trying to be prophets and save the world. Everybody is wearing all this corduroy shit and it's just like all his fucking space shit!! FUCK ALL THAT BIG WORDS SHIT!! That's why I listen to what I listen to, because I don't wanna hear all that big nerd shit. I wanna hear, "In My Neighborhood" by Spice. That's my shit.
ThaFormula.com - What year do you think it all started to change?

J-Zone - Something happened around '95 or '96. Like Puff and Foxy Brown and them were jiggy on the East and like Death Row had mad imitators on the West. People were complaining about Mack 10 and West Side Connection with the synthesizer beats so everybody was trying to be different. I'll admit I was tired of all that shit too so you know everybody turned to the underground. The first few years you know, you had Ras Kass and Hiero on the West and in the East you had early Company Flow shit, Natural Elements and it was cool. But then like '99 and 2000 all of a sudden muthafuckas started getting way into that planet shit. They just went all the way out. That fake Afrocentric shit got in the picture. That's why when I made "Bottle of Whup Ass" that's when I first started performing to promote "Music for Tu Madre" and I was doing shows with all these people and I was like, "yo, these muthafuckas are not having fun!" I was like this shit has gotten to damn nerdy and it's like every year I've gotten more sarcastic and more of an attitude 'cause I'm like this shit is getting nerdier and nerdier. Rap was about having some kind of edge and it's like nobody has the edge. Also, there is more rappers then there is fans, that's the muthafuckin' problem. People come out trying to analyze saying shit like, "Oh, that punch line wasn't that slick." Yo, just be a fan man. You know, I'm J-Zone and I make music but I went to go see EPMD a while back cause I'm a fan and I went as a fan, not J-Zone. Nowadays it seems like your performing in front of a bunch of MC's. Muthafuckas saying, "oh, he's not saying anything intellectual." I'm like, shut the fuck up man and just enjoy the show. I don't even go to rap shows no more man, but the last one I went to, I went as a fan and I think that night at the show in L.A. a lot of people left their rhymin' hats at home. Overseas the shows are crazy 'cause muthafuckas come out to have fun. In New York, your performing for a bunch of MC's just standing there mad at the world. There's Hip-hop, and then there's all that space shit and nerd shit.

ThaFormula.com - So has that space/nerd shit spread even in New York? Because I thought it was mainly deep in L.A?

J-Zone - Oh! It's fuckin' everywhere.

ThaFormula.com - It seems to me that the commercial scene and underground scene are the same as far as brainwashing people into believing that this wack shit is dope?

J-Zone - Yeah, I tell people that the underground ain't nothing but a poor man's commercial game. It's the same shit. This nerd shit has to go, it's a disease. I think a lot of people feel this way, but they are scared to admit it. I'm not scared to admit it. I know I might disappoint a chosen few and lose some fans, but if that what it takes to get to the bigger cause, then I'm with it. I honestly feel in my heart, FUCK THIS NERD SHIT!! I don't wanna be typecast as another nerd group and if I got to lose 5 fans, that's fine. I don't want no one putting me in that group. I don't want to be compared to no nerd ass underground shit. Somebody who reviewed my first album said it's a mixture between "Amerikkas Most Wanted" and "Mr. Hood" with his own shit. I like that because KMD represents the East Coast shit that I like, and "Amerikkkas Most Wanted" represents the West Coast shit.

ThaFormula.com - There seems to be no respect for OG guys like E-40 and them from these underground kids who talk all this independent shit?

J-Zone - Those cats were paying dues in like the late 80's sellin' out the trunk. E-40 invented the independent game. How you gonna be a fan of nerd independent rap. I mean o.k. if you don't like 40 fine it's an acquired taste, but to say E-40 ain't hip-hop? If it wasn't for him none of this shit would be happening because Sick-Wit-It invented that sellin' out the trunk shit.

ThaFormula.com - How many tracks did you end up doing for Biz Markie's upcoming LP?

J-Zone - He picked a few beats, but we wound up only using one. My shit is supposed to be the single and the video. I'm not getting my hopes up 'cause I know how the game goes, but if mine still winds up being the single and video that will be a big move.

ThaFormula.com - Have you gotten any other production work because of this Biz Markie project?

J-Zone - I've spoken to a few other rappers, but some of them said they like the beats when I'm on them, but they don't want them. Then I come out with them and then they like them. No one really wants to take the risk on my production because it ain't the normal Boom-Bap shit. At the same I'm not gonna stop in my tracks because people are frontin'. That's why I have Old Maid, because I have my ideas and beats. If people ain't gonna use my shit, I'm not gonna give up and say "alright I'm just gonna sit here and wait for somebody to pick." I'm gonna keep on putting out my records on my record label, doing what I wanna do until someone comes.

ThaFormula.com - What are the upcoming projects we should be hearing you on soon?

J-Zone - The next project is my single. A new Al-Shid 12" is coming out in about 2 months. I have a Celph Titled single lined up. We're finishing that up now. I'm working on something with Louis Logic and I'm getting' back in the lab to work on some more shit. Like I wasn't thinkin' of doing another album, but lately I've been getting a lot of ideas.

ThaFormula.com - Is there gonna be an Al Shid album?

J-Zone - Were still just working on music now, but he's also doing his own things. He makes beats and he's got his own crew. But we have a new single that's done and should be out in November. I was gonna stop Rhymin', but if people keep frontin' I'ma say fuck it and just do it 'cause I mean, I'll do a beat for low money if I really feel the artist, but a lot of these people are low money and there on that nerd shit. I wanna bring back that fun shit with dope interludes. I'm ready to start pissin' people off 'cause people can't sleep on you if their mad at you. If I get people hatin' on me for a cause that I'm with, then I'm with it cause I mean this nerd shit has got to go man. I just feel like a lot of these nerd cats have never lived life. They are so busy rhymin' and being nerdy and being underground that they don't take time to live life. Go play some sports, talk to some chicks and live a muthafuckin' life. I don't think they talk to women. I don't they play sports or go out. Their whole life is hip-hop and that's just gay to me. I mean rap about something else then rap. Talk about other things man. It's alright to do a song about doin' hip-hop for the love here and there, but to have a whole album just dedicated to being a nerdy ass rapper rhymin' all that space shit that don't make no sense is wack!

Last edited by Neuro on Fri Oct 04, 2002 11:36 pm; edited 1 time in total

Fri Oct 04, 2002 11:27 pm

Dee

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7872

He's a bit over the top with it, but he makes some damn good points.

Fri Oct 04, 2002 11:34 pm

Ryan

Joined: 27 Sep 2002
Posts: 739
Location: Presque Isle, Maine

i don't understand how that could be real.. 'cause he got all those dates wrong.. that shit he was saying started in '99-2000 was here in '94 with kats like Bored Stiff and Blackalicious and Peanut Butter Wolf, Karizma, man.. what's J-Zone talking about? he rhymes over the same beats he was hating on in that interview.. ?? and hip hop has always been a personal thing.. lyrics aren't all that faddish amongst real nice writers..

Fri Oct 04, 2002 11:42 pm

amano

Joined: 04 Jul 2002
Posts: 992
Location: exiled in Cackalack!

I couldn't agree more with j-zone. Well what he was tryin to get at with the statement he was makin.

Sat Oct 05, 2002 12:11 am

Soul Khansenses

Joined: 12 Aug 2002
Posts: 2110

Soul Khansenses

Soul Khansenses says, "Fuck J-Zone!"

Well, not exactly.

I just take issue with cats who articulate themselves so poorly that their point is lost to me. Then again, eloquence doesn't seem to be particularly "fun" to anyone, so I guess it's moot.

Sat Oct 05, 2002 12:23 am

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7909

Re: Soul Khansenses

Soul Khansenses wrote: Soul Khansenses says, "Fuck J-Zone!"

Well, not exactly.

I just take issue with cats who articulate themselves so poorly that their point is lost to me. Then again, eloquence doesn't seem to be particularly "fun" to anyone, so I guess it's moot.

haha.

nerd.

Sat Oct 05, 2002 12:49 am

ChiefColdHands

Joined: 23 Jul 2002
Posts: 182
Location: Lansing, Michigan

J-zone is the shit.

that is all.

Sat Oct 05, 2002 6:35 am

dense

Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 911
Location: england

j-zone is dope....

and so is 'nerd rap'....

Sat Oct 05, 2002 8:22 am

coma emilio

Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 1115

i'm not being funny but if j-zone was on mtv and selling truckloads of records i doubt he'd be as pissed off with "nerd rap"

Sat Oct 05, 2002 11:00 am

August Spies

Joined: 09 Aug 2002
Posts: 1979
Location: D.C.

Honestly I thought that was a pretty stupid interview.
"FUCK ALL THAT BIG WORDS SHIT!! "

fuck big words?

But then like '99 and 2000 all of a sudden muthafuckas started getting way into that planet shit.

he seems to be reffering to lots of different undergoudn groups like anticon and stuff, yet he keeps talking about "planet shit" and "apocaplyse shit." Who other than Non-phixion and El-P/Can Ox is really writing about that?

if that what it takes to get to the bigger cause

his "bigger cause" is trying to stop people from writing lyrics about outer space? .... ok.

Sat Oct 05, 2002 11:45 am

Ecap3

Joined: 08 Jul 2002
Posts: 64
Location: here

Sounds to me,

Like there's a new wave of hip hop starting to take over and some one can't keep up with the "intellectual nerd rap" so now he's all pissed off.

Sat Oct 05, 2002 12:18 pm

gerhupsom vanbone

Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 2697

sounds to me

like someone is giving there oppinion and a whole bunch of people are getting mad at him cause of it.

Sat Oct 05, 2002 1:46 pm

August Spies

Joined: 09 Aug 2002
Posts: 1979
Location: D.C.

im really not mad. But I don't think this is just j-zone giving his opinion per se, he is claiming "nerd rap" should be destroyed and wants to stop it.

Last edited by August Spies on Sat Oct 05, 2002 2:26 pm; edited 1 time in total

Sat Oct 05, 2002 1:59 pm

gerhupsom vanbone

Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 2697

yep

yeah i know.

lets stop an argument before it happens.

Sat Oct 05, 2002 2:11 pm

Dee

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7872

Re: Sounds to me,

Ecap3 wrote: Like there's a new wave of hip hop starting to take over and some one can't keep up with the "intellectual nerd rap" so now he's all pissed off.

Um...he's a pretty new artist....it sounds to me like he sees the "intelligentsia" trying to take over rap, and he doesn't like it.